GEORGE TOWN, Nov. 7 -- The moment Toh Ai Hwa takes her spot on stage in a Teochew iron-rod puppet performance, she will have to remain on stage for the next four hours even when heavily pregnant or sick.

The 76-year-old said her son was almost due for delivery when the troupe leader told her to join a performance in Bukit Mertajam.

"I asked him what if I went into labour and he told me if I go into labour, they will send me to the hospital and it happened that just as the show ended, I went into labour so I dropped the instruments and they took me to the hospital," she said.

She said there was no such thing as maternity leave during that era so she had worked throughout her pregnancies.

She recounted another time when she had to perfo...